ADYEN

I've been to the pizza place a few times with Len, but I never thought that there might be a whole meeting room upstairs.

Len and I had arrived for the meeting about half an hour ago. Things were still awkward between us, but Len managed to smile at Leigh and engage her in conversation as she led us through the back kitchen and up the narrow stairs to the room above. Now we were both sitting beside each other on an antic sofa.

I looked about the room, noticing the heavy curtains covering the small windows, and how the room was dimly lit by the one light bulb at the center pouring orange light. Slowly more people filled the meeting room, and at a point, I heard Georgiou's voice.

"He takes his time," Len said, making me look back at him. He was looking down at his watch. "We have to be patient. It takes a while for everyone to come in, especially during winter," he said, hinting at the fact that transit and public transport were going to be behind because of clearing the snow, and the fact that the roads were slippery.

A question from before popped up in my head. I know I had asked Len about seeing his wolf, and I had asked why most of them didn't just walk around in their wolf form as if they were stray dogs, but he had asked me if I had seen a wolf before. I guess that meant they were bigger, but I wasn't sure how big.

I was thinking about this when I heard a whine from the door to the meeting room. I looked over at the entrance, and my eyes widened when I spotted a wolf trying to squeeze in through the door. I guess that answered my question. It was huge. It cut up to half of the wooden door's length, and bigger than the frame by width.

"Really, you couldn't have changed downstairs first?" someone sitting behind me and Len said before getting up. Someone else followed, and they worked together to help the red wolf squeeze in through the door.

You said that as if you had a change of clothes just waiting for me downstairs. I jumped in my seat, blinking and frowning at the sound in my head.

"Len—"

"Did you hear him?" he asked, cutting me off before I could start my sentence. I blinked, nodding my head before looking away from him.

"It's normal, that's how werewolves talk in their wolf forms," he mumbled, reaching out to squeeze my shaking hand. Every other day there was something new I had to learn about people like him—people like me, and it just happened to be whenever I was feeling more confident in my identity.

As I watched the wolf walk to the cleared area on the left-hand side and settle down on the rug, I wondered what my wolf would look like if I had one. Len rubbed the inside of my arm, and I blinked, looking back at him.

"I'll show you my wolf later," he promised. At first, a smile formed on my face, but then I frowned.

"Can you... can you read my mind?" I asked, starting to panic a bit. There's been a lot of thoughts that I wouldn't want Len to know about. I felt like I was taking the whole revelation of what I was well, but I think I'm going to draw a line at reading minds. Len seemed to realize what he had said. He took his hand away from mine before pushing strands of his dark hair behind his ear.

"No," he said, sighing. "I can feel your aura... Well, something like that. I can feel your feelings," he mumbled. "It's a mate thing," he said before sighing.

"Do you see why I wanted to take things slow?" he whispered under his breath when I didn't say anything and just looked down at the brown carpet. I tightened my jaw, but I didn't say anything in response. I didn't want to tell him he was right for hiding stuff from me, but I didn't want to pretend like this wasn't weirding me out.

"Then, how come I can't feel your feelings too?" I asked, and Len sighed.

"Well, you're recessive, so I guess that's why," he answered. I opened my mouth to ask something else, but that was the time Georgiou chose to walk into the meeting room. There was mumbling around us. I looked over to him, watching the blond man stroll over to the chair in front of the rows of antic sofas and settees.

"Is everyone here?" he asked, looking about the room. I looked around too, taking in how many people were in the room. If I had to guess, at least fifty. I wasn't sure if this was meant to be a small or large pack but to know that pockets of non-humans like this existed all over town was fascinating.

"I think so," Leigh said from the other end of the room. She had been standing on her tippy toes as she counted everyone present before scribbling into the tiny notebook she had in her hand. I briefly wondered how much work it was to organize and take care of so many wolves that weren't related by blood or even breed.

Georgiou nodded at his wife's words, taking a seat before his wife came to join him. "Now that we're all here I'll go over updates before asking if anyone has anything to say or if they have any questions," he said, clasping his hands together.

"I'll start by talking about the rogue pack that doesn't have a base," he said, and I heard a few sighs. It seemed that everyone knew what he was talking about. I knew what he was talking about. It seemed like the young bikers were still around. "I'm not sure if they'll settle down here and behave or if they'll keep being nomadic, but I promise that after a month, I'll put my foot down," he said.

"They're stealing bikes," someone said from behind.

Another person chipped in. "Supplies too. We lost some unperishable food we ordered the other day. I know we shouldn't have left it at the staircase, but it's gone."

"I know, they're also stealing from random stores a few blocks away," Georgiou said, sighing again. His wife reached out her hand to squeeze his shoulder, making him look up at her before smiling.

"Also," someone started from the corner. "I was minding my business the other day when their alpha came up to me asking if I knew an Adyen."

My blood ran cold, and I turned my head to watch a bored-looking teenager who still looked to be in high school staring at Georgiou. I hadn't seen him the last few times I had been to Georgiou's, so I assumed that he wasn't a regular at the eatery but was still a pack member.

"There's no Adyen in this pack, I don't know what they were going on about, but it's worth digging about for," the young wolf finished, running a hand through his messy black curls. "Is there an Adyen...?" he asked when he noticed that Georgiou was just staring at him and not saying anything.

Georgiou still didn't answer him. Instead, he turned to look at me with furrowed brows. "Adyen," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Do you know that wolf?"

I flinched. I didn't like his tone. He didn't seem to trust me, but it was something I had expected. I was new, and even though he had been friendly with me because of Len. I was still new, and if he assumed that I was a threat to his pack his tone, and the analytical way he was now staring at me was justified. I could only look away when Leigh moved to block her husband's view of me.

"Don't scare him," she said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. She was holding his shoulders now and was trying to calm him down.

I swallowed the spit at the back of my throat as my heart pumped in my ears. Len tried to hold my hand, but I pulled away from him, cradling my hand in my lap instead. I didn't want to look up from the carpet. I could feel the stares of the other wolves on me, and that was already overwhelming.

"I don't know him..." I said, feeling chills when I remembered how he had stared at me that evening at the pizza parlor. "Why would he be looking for me?" I muttered the last sentence under my breath.

"If you don't know him, then maybe you're the one in danger?" Leigh offered, making me look up at her. Georgiou was looking at me too. His blue eyes looked unsure.

"Do you know if there's any reason someone might be looking for you?" Georgiou asked.

"No," I said, looking back at the floor. "I just realized I was recessive not too long ago. I don't know anything about any of this." My frustration was starting to sip into my voice. Len reached out to touch my back. I didn't pull away from him this time. I let him rub circles into my back as I listened to the room go batshit crazy with murmuring.

"Enough." Georgiou's voice was firm, and it made the room quiet down. "We'll deal with that later, for now, let's get over with the rest of the announcements so people can leave if they have commitments for the rest of the day."

"First of all," he started, as Leigh went to sit back next to him. "Let's talk about new members, and folks who've left this month—"

His voice drowned out in my head. I knew he introduced me because Len shook my shoulder, and I got a few eyes on me as people muttered their welcomes, but aside from that, all I could hear was buzzing in the background.

"I'll walk you home," Len whispered into my ear when everyone started to get up from their seats to make their way out of the meeting room's entrance. I blinked, swallowing air as I came out of my trance. Georgiou was done addressing everyone it seemed.

I turned to look at Len. He was giving me a worried look, but it made me feel sick rather than comfortable. He can read my mind. I pulled my hand away from him, feeling my body shake. "You don't have to do that."

"Adyen—"

"I'll call you when I get home," I said, getting up before Len could continue talking. I jogged down the stairs and was careful not to make eye contact with anyone, and despite that, I could hear them whisper under their breaths and theorize about me.

The heavy feeling in my chest didn't leave when I left the restaurant and made my way to the bus stop without having anyone jump out on me as I had feared. The feeling wasn't lightened when I sat in the bus seat as I looked out into the scenery. I thought about all the things I was learning. I thought about the alpha that wasn't apparently looking for me. I squinted, reaching up to itch my neck. I still didn't understand that. Why was he looking for me?